NYCT Subway Performance

Joseph Leader, Senior VP, Subways

Peter Cafiero, Chief, Operations Planning

May 2015

Today, Subway performance is primarily challenged by growing

ridership, ongoing maintenance needs & unplanned events

1

Ridership is growing in peak and off-peak periods

Critical maintenance needs are growing and work often performed under train

traffic

Unplanned events do occur (e.g., power outages, water main breaks, signal

trouble) and also have a significant impact

on service

2014 Delays by Cause*

Planned Work26%

Unplanned Work22%

Crowding, Police, Sick Customer, etc.

40%

Other12%

*Delays February 2014-January 2015

Incidents versus Delays: Impact of a given incident can vary widely by

time, line and location

2

168th St, 9:09 PM, 3/23/15, 22 minute

duration

72nd St, 4:35 PM, 11/4/14, 10 minute

duration

Example: Sick Customer Incident Delayed Trains(Number of trains rerouted or made 5 minutes late to the terminal by the incident)

A similar incident has a smaller

impact on a less busy line...

14 Trains Delayed

50th St, 6:08 PM, 7/29/14, 10 minute duration

72 Trains Delayed

and even less impact during the off peak.

3 Trains Delayed

Incidents vary in frequency and magnitude of impact

3

2014 Weekday Incidents, Major Categories

Incident DescriptionNo. of

Incidents

No. of Delays

(avg. per Incident)

Unplanned Work

Water Condition & Water Main Break 36 59

Track Conditions 548 33

Fire/Smoke Conditions 419 22

Signal Conditions 2,370 17

Door closing trouble (often crowding-related) 2,324 5

Planned Work 11,334 10

Crowding, Police, Sick Customers, etc 29,734 6

Ridership is growing at all hours of the day and has exceeded 2008

levels in all hours

4

-

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

12 AM- 1 AM

1 AM -2 AM

2 AM -3 AM

3 AM -4 AM

4 AM -5 AM

5 AM -6 AM

6 AM -7 AM

7 AM -8 AM

8 AM -9 AM

9 AM -10 AM

10 AM-11 AM

11 AM-12 PM

12 PM- 1 PM

1 PM -2 PM

2 PM -3 PM

3 PM -4 PM

4 PM -5 PM

5 PM -6 PM

6 PM -7 PM

7 PM -8 PM

8 PM -9 PM

9 PM -10 PM

10 PM-11 PM

11 PM-12 AM

Weekday Subway Ridership by Hour

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Source: OMB linked trips

15 out of 20 lines are at peak track capacity, including ten lines

already at track and train (passenger carrying) capacity

5

Subway Track Capacity by Line - AM Peak Hour (Peak Direction)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 A B C D E F G J Z L M N Q R

Capacity measured at the Peak Load Point, where trains carry the heaviest load in the peak hour

Peak Load Point for busiest direction on each line shown above

Colors indicate whether additional capacity is available

Red constrained in both track and train capacity (10 lines)

Yellow passenger capacity on existing trains but no track capacity to run more trains (5 lines)

Green both track and train capacity available (5 lines)

10

3 S

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72

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Heavy ridership affects system performance closely correlated with delays

6

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500,000 4,000,000 4,500,000 5,000,000 5,500,000 6,000,000 6,500,000

Dela

ys P

er

Weekd

ay

Weekday Ridership

December 2014 Weekday Delays vs. Ridership

Close to Average

Daily Ridership

We complete critical maintenance under traffic

We have increased the frequency of infrastructure, track and signal inspections

Every weekday, we average 400 work sites on the right of way, 150 of which occur between 9am and 4pm

75% of the work sites are for signals and track maintenance / repairs

We work in approximately 4-5 locations per line during off-peak periods

Amidst ridership challenges, planned work on the right of way is

essential to maintain a State of Good Repair

7

In 2003, 3,900 delayed trains were due to planned work (6%).

In 2014, 113,000 delayed trains were due to planned work (26%).

Enhanced worker protection systems slow trains to protect workers

on tracks

Slow speeds (10 mph) past work sites ensure worker safety (flagging), but lower capacity

Flagging rule enhancements since 2003 have lengthened slow speed zones and have added slow speed protection on adjacent tracks

Current rules Total advance warning zone: 1,150ft

150 ft 1,000 ft720 ft

Current rules Clear at 720ft

8

Even one small work zone requires more than 1/3 of a mile of slow train speed

A typical slow speed zone reduces track capacity from 28 to 18 trains per track per hour

Service Improvement Plan

9

Service Delivery efforts focus on reliable, evenly-spaced service, as

measured by Wait Assessment

Wait assessment is the percent of intervals between

trains that are not more than scheduled interval +25%,

based on multiple observations in each trip

Wait assessment is a better measure of customer

service than delays or OTP because:

Unlike commuter rail, the vast majority of our riders are headway focused, not schedule

focused

Most customers ride only a portion of the line and do not ride terminal to terminal

WA is calculated along each line and provides a more comprehensive picture of customer

experience

10

A Subway Delay Story

11

Scheduled Service

Efforts to maintain evenness improve customer service, at the

expense of OTP

12

Diagram depicts train positions as they pass stations (vertical) over time (horizontal)

6 6

Time

Po

sitio

n a

lon

g tra

ins

jou

rne

y

Efforts to maintain evenness improve customer service, at the

expense of OTP

13Only select dwells shown

Diagram depicts train positions as they pass stations (vertical) over time (horizontal)

Each plotted point represents the time that a train arrived in a station

Even train spacing is represented by parallel, evenly spaced string lines

Large spaces and nonparallel lines indicate uneven spacing, possibly due to incidents

6 6 Southbound 6 service, 12/22/14

Trains are mostly

evenly spacedSpacing is uneven

There are irregular gaps in

service

Southbound arrived

14th Street-Union Square

at 8:26 AM

6

Efforts to maintain evenness improve customer service, at the

expense of OTP (cont.)

14

Train had an

incident at 125th

Street causing

a 13 minute

gap in service

Only select dwells shown6 6 Southbound 6 service, 12/22/14

Train dispatchers employ strategies to regulate train spacing, especially around an incident

Ahead of a delayed train, trains may be held to ensure a large gap in service does not follow

Once the incident has been cleared, trains may be instructed to skip stops to catch up and lessen train bunching

Service management actions typically help Wait Assessment, often at the expense of OTP

Trains ahead were held in

station to close the gap

from in front

The "incident train" and one train

behind it were instructed to skip

stations (no station stop shown) to

catch up and clear train congestion

Additional Delays due

to incident and service

actions

Holding helped some

intervals meet Wait

Assessment standard

Subway Schedules - First comprehensive revision since 1990s, when

weekday ridership was equivalent to current Saturday ridership

1515

We have accelerated a thorough review of weekday schedules, will be fully implemented in 2015

Line-by-line, we are:

Updating running times

Providing terminal recovery times for arriving trains and crews to make return trips

Adjusting schedules to better manage:

Merges and terminal operations

Even headways

Adjustments for off-peak planned work

Will expand to weekend schedules in 2016

2014 Delays*

Different lines are impacted by different factors, service and incident

management efforts vary by line

13% 11% 12%

52%

28%

40%

19%

26%

22%

16%

35%

26%

Planned Work

Unplanned Work

Crowding, Police,

Sick Customers, etc.

System

444,897100%

Other

A Division

223,794

B Division

221,103

16*Delays February 2014-January 2015

We are launching initiatives to target primary challenges on specific lines,

based on wait assessment performance

Targeted Lines Based on Wait Assessment Decline:

Crowding and Service Management

Focus service management efforts on maintaining evenness of service (wait assessment)

Reduce dwell times at problematic locations (initial focus is primarily on 6 line)

Additional platform controllers, step aside boxes, and revising door announcements to speed door closing

Monitor platform crowding conditions via cameras and staged personnel and respond to real-time conditions

Improve communications during disruptions

Formalize partnership with NYPD to assist with platform metering during incident

17

Planned Work

Unplanned Work

Crowding, Police,

Sick Customers, etc.

Other

System Delays

Targeted Lines Based on Wait Assessment Decline:

Incident Prevention

Targeting highest incident locations and enhancing inspections

Increased ultrasonic testing

Aggressive Continuous Welded Rail installation

Incident Response

CAT Teams: Signals, Track and Third Rail teams strategically deployed for quick response

Lex Line Signals Coverage: signal staff staged along Lexington Corridor for accelerated response to incidents

Additional multi-discipline response personnel

Improved Coordination of Planned Work to Minimize Impact

Consolidate work planning to create multi-discipline work zones and decrease impact of planned work on service; targeting Lexington corridor for initial pilot implementation

18

We are launching initiatives to target primary challenges on specific lines,

based on wait assessment performance

Planned Work

Unplanned Work

Crowding, Police,

Sick Customers, etc.

Other

System Delays